Earnest spars with reporters on first day

6/23/14 4:02 PM EDT

White House press secretary Josh Earnest almost made it to the end of his first briefing unscathed. Almost.

At the end of Monday's briefing, several reporters complained that Earnest had not informed them of a phone call President Barack Obama had with Russian President Vladimir Putin — an exchange reporters learned about during the briefing, via the Kremlin.

"Well, Alexis, you don't have to get all exercised about this," Earnest responded, before providing the following explanation: "I was asked if the president had conversations with world leaders about the situation in Iraq."

He then left the briefing room amid complaints from reporters.

In fact, Obama and Putin did discuss the situation in Iraq. Per the Kremlin's official statement, both leaders "expressed grave concern about activities in Iraq by militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria terrorist group. The President of Russia expressed support for Baghdad's efforts to fight the Islamists and establish peace and security in the nation."

But there's another technicality Earnest might claim: Jon-Christopher Bua, the reporter who asked the Iraq question, had said, "When the time comes, will you let us know who the president has been speaking to in terms of his allies, his friends?"

Technically, Putin isn't an ally or a friend. Though I doubt such an excuse would satisfy the White House press corps.